Highlands Nature Center offers summer camps

The Highlands Nature Center is holding a series of summer nature camps for children from ages 4 to 14 with varying themes. Preregistration is required. For more information go to highlandsbiological.org/nature-center or contact 828.526.2623.

“WOW! – a World of Wonder” is for ages 4 to 6 and will be held from 10 a.m. to noon from June 5 to 8, from July 10 to 13 and from Aug. 7 to 10 for $55 per child. Children will learn nature games, hike, search for critters, and explore ponds and streams.

“Amazing Animals” is for ages 7 to 10 and will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from June 12 to 15 and from July 17 to 20 for $85 per child. Children will study different animal groups through hands-on activities and field observations.

“NatureWorks” is for ages 8 to 11 and will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. from June 26 to 29 and from July 31 to Aug. 3 for $85 per child. Children will learn about the workings of Mother Nature through various interactive games and activities.

“Junior Ecologists” is for ages 11 to 14 and will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 19 to 22 for $120 per child. Children will discover what field biologists do as they conduct real science, both at the biological station and at various off-site locations in the Nantahala National Forest. They will study stream life, assess forest habitats, collect insects, examine salamander communities, perform bird counts, and inventory small mammals.

“Mountain Explorers” is for ages 10 to 13 and will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 24 to 27 for $120 per child. Students will travel off the beaten path to go on all-day hikes to a variety of off-site locations in the Nantahala National Forest. The group will observe nature and wildlife, keep field journals, learn to read maps, learn to use a compass and develop teamwork skills through trail activities.

Reading Room

Like some other readers I know, my taste in books these last 20 years or so has shifted from fiction to non-fiction, especially history, biography, and literary studies. I still follow certain novelists — Anne Tyler, Pat Conroy, James Lee Burke, and others — and still review novels for this paper, but find that works of fiction simply don’t appeal as much as when I was in my twenties and thirties, when I read stacks of novels and poetry.